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Treatment of Dissociative Identity Disorder: Techniques and Strategies for Stabilization
In Treatment of Dissociative Identity Disorder, Dr. Ross provides techniques and strategies for stabilization of persons with the disorder. The book is designed to be practical and useful. It is written particularly for the therapist new to dissociative identity disorder (DID) who needs brief, to-the-point guidance on how to begin working with someone with DID. The book includes many therapist-client dialogues that illustrate the techniques and strategies Dr. Ross has learned over the years. a great companion book to Treatment of DID is Dr. Ross' Be A Teammate With Yourself. An excellent helpful resource for your clients.
83 pages, Perfect Paperback
Published April 30, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
June 20, 2022
Despite a publication date of 2018, Colin Ross' Treatment of Dissociative Identity Disorder is woefully behind in terms of research and facts.
The problems of the book likely stem from the fact that he cites primarily his own body of work, and in the 1 (yes, one) section where he does cite others' work, he cites repetitiously from the same group of authors.
Much of it is outdated, blatantly incorrect, poor practice, or contain quite a lot of opinion. Examples of this would be his claim that "if diagnosis is not 100% clear [...] you can always diagnose OSDD," as well as the fact that the Signs and Symptoms section contains things that are not considered diagnostically relevant or part of the criterion.
In addition, the majority of book is not an actual presentation of facts but instead essentially a script of back and forth casual dialogue between Ross and (hopefully) fictional clients. These conversations are largely heavy handed approaches to therapeutic conversations, and given that the book is apparently meant for his inpatient staff to read as training, presents an issue for effectiveness especially in the training and knowledge that his staff can utilize in their work managing inpatient populations.
I would argue that the fact that he requires his new hires to read this inflates the book's sales, and calls into question whether he provides training to his staff beyond "buy my book." It's also pretty self important in my own opinion, especially since he cites entirely himself for further reading.
If you're looking to gain an equal amount of knowledge minus the shenanigans, the ISSTD's Adult Treatment Guidelines from 2011 is a) free to access and b) more up to date than this book.
The problems of the book likely stem from the fact that he cites primarily his own body of work, and in the 1 (yes, one) section where he does cite others' work, he cites repetitiously from the same group of authors.
Much of it is outdated, blatantly incorrect, poor practice, or contain quite a lot of opinion. Examples of this would be his claim that "if diagnosis is not 100% clear [...] you can always diagnose OSDD," as well as the fact that the Signs and Symptoms section contains things that are not considered diagnostically relevant or part of the criterion.
In addition, the majority of book is not an actual presentation of facts but instead essentially a script of back and forth casual dialogue between Ross and (hopefully) fictional clients. These conversations are largely heavy handed approaches to therapeutic conversations, and given that the book is apparently meant for his inpatient staff to read as training, presents an issue for effectiveness especially in the training and knowledge that his staff can utilize in their work managing inpatient populations.
I would argue that the fact that he requires his new hires to read this inflates the book's sales, and calls into question whether he provides training to his staff beyond "buy my book." It's also pretty self important in my own opinion, especially since he cites entirely himself for further reading.
If you're looking to gain an equal amount of knowledge minus the shenanigans, the ISSTD's Adult Treatment Guidelines from 2011 is a) free to access and b) more up to date than this book.
April 15, 2025
Helpful, if thin and poorly written, resource. While it feels simultaneously thin and padded, there's some helpful stuff here for sure, but the author seems too emotionally charged at times which does a disservice. A really great example is how he refers to skepticism as propaganda and bullying, as though skepticism had no place in science or medicine. This kind of attitude really draws everything you say into question. Even in one of the more promising parts of the book, the section about therapeutic neutrality, which I think is a an essential idea for any therapist, the tone becomes so charged that you ultimately have to wonder how reliable this person is, particularly when he starts making a rather dubious argument about purported satanic ritual abuse. Girl please.
This book seems emblematic of the trouble around dissociative disorders. People who seem more established or reliable seem perhaps too skeptical of these disorders and the advocates for these disorders more often than not come across as unprofessional or even unhinged. Ultimately, I can't say this book will do anything to assuage any skepticism anybody might have. To be honest, I think this book might have set me back a few steps in terms of skepticism. For the most part, I feel like most of the things he talks about in this book can be better explained through the lens of internal family systems. This paradigm feels too sensationalistic to me.
This book seems emblematic of the trouble around dissociative disorders. People who seem more established or reliable seem perhaps too skeptical of these disorders and the advocates for these disorders more often than not come across as unprofessional or even unhinged. Ultimately, I can't say this book will do anything to assuage any skepticism anybody might have. To be honest, I think this book might have set me back a few steps in terms of skepticism. For the most part, I feel like most of the things he talks about in this book can be better explained through the lens of internal family systems. This paradigm feels too sensationalistic to me.
November 11, 2024
Dr. Colin Ross’ book, “Treatment of Dissociative Identity Disorder”, has helped me a great deal in reckoning with my “schizo-DID” disorders. My condition is enough like DID that I have an “alter” who is hostile toward my values, devotions, and commitments. I (the host) keep the conduct of the person under control – the “alter” sometimes derides the host as the cruel dictator. Dr. Ross helped me to see that I need to talk with, somewhat befriend, and properly “socialize” this deviant “alter”.
This rather brief book was of considerable help to me. Dr. Ross’ teachings about psychiatry are, I think, brilliant, innovative, and greatly beneficial to struggling patients who are privileged to have some guidance from Dr. Ross, even if only through reading his enlightening books. Personally, I found this to be a most helpful little book.
This rather brief book was of considerable help to me. Dr. Ross’ teachings about psychiatry are, I think, brilliant, innovative, and greatly beneficial to struggling patients who are privileged to have some guidance from Dr. Ross, even if only through reading his enlightening books. Personally, I found this to be a most helpful little book.
August 12, 2018
Awesome practical book on dissociation Recovery
I read this book in one day. It’s written by a physician who clearly knows DID & dissociation inside and out AND knows how to apply this knowledge in a practical way to help his patients heal. The way he gave dialogue examples of how he uses techniques with patients gave me so many new tools to use in my own healing and with my patients
I read this book in one day. It’s written by a physician who clearly knows DID & dissociation inside and out AND knows how to apply this knowledge in a practical way to help his patients heal. The way he gave dialogue examples of how he uses techniques with patients gave me so many new tools to use in my own healing and with my patients
June 24, 2021
Interesting read
As a person recently diagnosed with DID, I have been looking into as much as I can and came across this book. It is written for a therapist just starting out in DID cases, but it helped me to understand it too as I don’t have a therapist yet but working with my psychiatrist. It was a quick and easy-to-understand read and will suggest this book to my psychiatrist as well.
As a person recently diagnosed with DID, I have been looking into as much as I can and came across this book. It is written for a therapist just starting out in DID cases, but it helped me to understand it too as I don’t have a therapist yet but working with my psychiatrist. It was a quick and easy-to-understand read and will suggest this book to my psychiatrist as well.
October 3, 2023
I didn't realize this book would be so short. I should have read the description more carefully! I appreciated that this meant to be a short primer for DID an not a comprehensive, in-depth look. It was a good tool to use before meeting my first DID client for the first time. However, I think the scripts were not very helpful--rarely does therapy follow a script. Every client is different. Have bullet point lists with higher level approaches would have been more helpful.
July 31, 2019
I really appreciated that Dr. Ross provides dialogue around working with patient who have DID. Having a baseline talk track is very helpful just starting out. The book was full of techniques and strategies to help stabilize - exactly as the title indicates. I will definitely be keeping this book close by to refer to often.
February 8, 2023
Buy this book!
This is a fantastic read for therapist who work with clients with DID. As a mental health counselor this book helped me too reduce stigma of the disorder. Dr. Ross also introduces techniques that are uniquely tied to DID I have never considered before. Thank you Dr. Ross for sharing your knowledge with us!
This is a fantastic read for therapist who work with clients with DID. As a mental health counselor this book helped me too reduce stigma of the disorder. Dr. Ross also introduces techniques that are uniquely tied to DID I have never considered before. Thank you Dr. Ross for sharing your knowledge with us!
May 25, 2020
This book was very helpful to understand working with DID clients. It is very basic, outlining treatment, how to communicate with alters, and work with the client to integrate their “parts.” I found this book fascinating and a great first step to working with DID clients.
December 7, 2020
Excellent read
Liked the format, direction, and how the information was presented.
I came across this book looking for more of a book on living with disassociative identity disorder, but this is good for the audience it is intended for.
Liked the format, direction, and how the information was presented.
I came across this book looking for more of a book on living with disassociative identity disorder, but this is good for the audience it is intended for.
December 16, 2023
As an energy healer with no formal training in DID, I found Ross' writing to be a concise, clear, and insightful overview of DID treatment. I found lots of gems that will augment my use of Internal Family Systems Therapy-inspired techniques with my clients!
October 14, 2019
Practical. People need to know this is a practical short guide, not a whole work of theory and work.
But as a quick guide, it's quite nice
But as a quick guide, it's quite nice
August 12, 2020
Very informative
This book delivers solid information in terms blessedly simplified for people that don't already know much about dissociative disorders- Highly recommend.
This book delivers solid information in terms blessedly simplified for people that don't already know much about dissociative disorders- Highly recommend.
July 30, 2023
Beginner book
The book is basic information to help recognize and diagnose an easy straight forward case of DID. Good for beginners with no experience with the disorder.
The book is basic information to help recognize and diagnose an easy straight forward case of DID. Good for beginners with no experience with the disorder.
September 1, 2023
Feels weird rating non-fiction but here we are
January 14, 2026
There are definitely some aspects of this book I found informative and helpful, but overall it was semi-helpful
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews